Meditate with Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939)

IF THE MAN is known for his talent as an illustrator and poster designer of Art Nouveau, the rest of Alphonse Mucha’s work is also worth exploring. At 73, the Czech painter, who passed through France and the United States, returned to settle in his native Bohemia. Suffering from pneumonia, his health deteriorated. He only has a few years left to live.

The sensual flamboyance of his youthful posters with scholarly scrolls is now followed by more interior works. Like this portrait of a woman, seated on a large old armchair, immersed in an immense finely embroidered silk cape with shimmering reflections. The young woman’s large eyes seem lost in sad and distant contemplation. Is it the flame of the candle that catches his eye, or is his mind already wandering elsewhere? Perhaps it was Jaroslava, the painter’s daughter who once served as her model, in those years when the young girl herself was recovering from a period of illness with an uncertain outcome. His head is covered in a long white turban which falls on his shoulders, and under the coat, the white shirt which covers the whole body seems to indicate that this is not the time for carelessness and easy appearances. The wax spilling onto the small wooden piece of furniture supporting the candlestick makes the flame tremble and smoke more and more. The pair of scissors, which are usually used to cut the wick when one is about to leave the place, is nothing more than an almost useless reminder of the life that passes. In a large pastel of pink, white and blue hues, the work gently evokes the uncertain times of existence. When the flame so burning and so full of life can be extinguished with the slightest breath.